Imaging support system, device and method, and imaging terminal

ABSTRACT

Specifying information for specifying a surrounding inspection target which is an inspection target present in a predetermined range with respect to the imaging terminal is acquired from the imaging terminal. The surrounding inspection target is specified among the plurality of inspection targets on the basis of the specifying information. It is evaluated whether or not there is an image acquisition area in which acquisition of a new captured image is necessary for the surrounding inspection target on the basis of a result of accessing a database that stores maintenance and inspection information including at least a captured image for each of the plurality of inspection targets and referring to the maintenance and inspection information of the surrounding inspection target. Image acquisition area information indicating the image acquisition area in which the acquisition of a new captured image is evaluated to be necessary is output to the imaging terminal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of PCT International Application No.PCT/JP2016/076730 filed on Sep. 12, 2016, which claims priority under 35U.S.C § 119(a) to Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-188538 filed onSep. 25, 2015. Each of the above application(s) is hereby expresslyincorporated by reference, in its entirety, into the presentapplication.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an imaging support system, an imagingsupport device, an imaging support method which support imaging of aninspection target using an imaging terminal, and an imaging terminalthat is used in the imaging support system.

2. Description of the Related Art

Inspection of various buildings (referred to as a building, a structure,a construction, or an infrastructure; an inspection target) such as abridge; a road, a tunnel, a dam, an embankment, or a building isconducted by an expert with expertise. The expert images an inspectionpoint of the building using various imaging terminals such as asmartphone, a tablet terminal, or a digital camera. Captured image dataobtained by this imaging is registered in a database for buildingmanagement and used for management (maintenance and inspection,inspection management, or maintenance management) of the building.

JP2013-164786A discloses an imaging support device that outputsinformation on an inspection point not imaged by an imaging terminal tothe imaging terminal by specifying a building that is an imaging targeton the basis of position information acquired from the imaging terminaland then specifying an inspection point of the building by referring toan inspection reference of the building. Accordingly, captured imagedata of inspection points of various buildings can be acquired withoutomission and registered in a database for building management.

In recent years, since the number of buildings that are inspectiontargets with respect to the number of experts has greatly increased, itis not possible for experts to sufficiently perform inspection of thebuildings. Therefore, in recent years, efforts have been performed toacquire captured image data of buildings from ordinary persons andregister the captured image data in a database for building management(see “ChibaRepo˜New Communication Tool Connecting Citizen toAdministration˜(Chiba-prefecture, Chiba-city)”, [online], [Searched onAug. 31, 2015], Internet<http://www.applic.or.jp/pdf/futuer_18/04/10.pdf>.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Incidentally, “ChibaRepo˜New Communication Tool Connecting Citizen toAdministration˜(Chiba-prefecture, Chiba-city)”, [online], [Searched onAug. 31, 2015], Internet<http://www.applic.or.jp/pdf/futuer_18/04/10.pdf> describes acquiringcaptured image data of a building from an ordinary person, but anordinary person who does not have expertise regarding inspection of thebuilding does not normally recognize a building of which inspection(imaging) is necessary or a point of the building of which theinspection (imaging) is necessary. Therefore, captured image data of thebuilding of which imaging is necessary may not be obtained from theordinary person at all.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, andan object of the present invention is to provide an imaging supportsystem, device, and method capable of efficiently acquiring a capturedimage of an inspection target of which imaging is necessary from anordinary person, and an imaging terminal that is used in this imagingsupport system.

An imaging support system for achieving the object of the presentinvention is an imaging support system comprising an imaging terminalhaving an imaging unit, and an imaging support device that supportsimaging of an inspection target in the imaging terminal, wherein theimaging support device comprises: a specifying information acquisitionunit that acquires, from the imaging terminal, specifying informationfor specifying a surrounding inspection target which is an inspectiontarget present in a predetermined range with respect to the imagingterminal; an inspection target specifying unit that specifies thesurrounding inspection target among the plurality of inspection targetson the basis of the specifying information acquired by the specifyinginformation acquisition unit; a necessity evaluation unit that evaluateswhether or not there is an image acquisition area in which acquisitionof a new captured image is necessary for the surrounding inspectiontarget on the basis of a result of accessing a database that storesmaintenance and inspection information including at least a capturedimage for each of the plurality of inspection targets and referring tothe maintenance and inspection information of the surrounding inspectiontarget specified by the inspection target specifying unit; and an imageacquisition area information output unit that outputs image acquisitionarea information indicating the image acquisition area in which thenecessity evaluation unit evaluates that the acquisition of a newcaptured image is necessary to the imaging terminal; and wherein theimaging terminal comprises: a position information acquisition unit thatacquires a position information of an imaging terminal; a specifyinginformation output unit that outputs the specifying information whichinclude the position information of the imaging terminal acquired by theposition information acquisition unit to the specifying informationacquisition unit; and a display unit that displays the image acquisitionarea on the basis of the image acquisition area information output fromthe image acquisition area information output unit; and wherein theinspection target specifying unit acquires the position information ofthe inspection target indicating positions of the plurality ofinspection targets, and specifies the surrounding inspection target onthe basis of the inspection target information and the positioninformation of the imaging terminal included in the specifyinginformation acquired by the specifying information acquisition unit.

According to this imaging support system, it is possible to request auser of the imaging terminal to image the image acquisition area inwhich acquisition of a new captured image is necessary.

In the imaging support system according to another aspect of the presentinvention, the imaging terminal comprises a position informationacquisition unit that acquires position information of the imagingterminal, the specifying information includes the position informationacquired by the position information acquisition unit, and theinspection target specifying unit acquires map information indicatingpositions of the plurality of inspection targets, and specifies thesurrounding inspection target on the basis of the map information andthe position information included in the specifying information acquiredby the specifying information acquisition unit. Thus, it is possible tospecify the surrounding inspection target from the position informationthat is acquired in the imaging terminal.

In the imaging support system according to yet another aspect of thepresent invention, the imaging terminal comprises an imaging directionacquisition unit that acquires an imaging direction of the imagingterminal, the specifying information further includes the imagingdirection acquired by the imaging direction acquisition unit, theinspection target specifying unit specifies the surrounding inspectiontarget included in an imaging range of the imaging unit on the basis ofthe position information and the imaging direction included in thespecifying information acquired by the specifying informationacquisition unit, the necessity evaluation unit evaluates whether or notthere is the image acquisition area in the imaging range of the imagingunit on the basis of a specifying result of the inspection targetspecifying unit, the image acquisition area information output unitoutputs the image acquisition area information indicating the imageacquisition area in the imaging range to the imaging terminal, and thedisplay unit discriminably displays the image acquisition area on thebasis of the image acquisition area information in a case where a liveview image is displayed on the basis of the captured image obtained byimaging in the imaging unit. Accordingly, it is possible to request auser of the imaging terminal to image the image acquisition area inwhich acquisition of a new captured image is necessary.

In the imaging support system according to yet another aspect of thepresent invention, the inspection target is a building, the imagingterminal comprises an imaging direction acquisition unit that acquiresan imaging direction of the imaging terminal, the specifying informationfurther includes the imaging direction acquired by the imaging directionacquisition unit, the imaging support device includes a designinformation specifying unit that acquires design information of theplurality of inspection targets in advance and specifies the designinformation of the surrounding inspection target on the basis of thedesign information and the surrounding inspection target specified bythe inspection target specifying unit, the inspection target specifyingunit further specifies a part of the surrounding inspection target inthe imaging range of the imaging unit on the basis of the positioninformation and the imaging direction included in the specifyinginformation acquired by the specifying information acquisition unit, andthe design information specified by the design information specifyingunit, and the necessity evaluation unit evaluates whether or not thereis the image acquisition area in the part specified by the inspectiontarget specifying unit on the basis of a result of accessing thedatabase and referring to the maintenance and inspection information ofthe surrounding inspection target. Accordingly, since the display of theimage acquisition area in the imaging terminal can be performed in partsof the surrounding inspection target in the imaging range, the user ofthe imaging terminal can easily discriminate which part of thesurrounding inspection target in the imaging range may be imaged.

In the imaging support system according to yet another aspect of thepresent invention, the inspection target is a building, the specifyinginformation further includes a captured image obtained by imaging in theimaging unit, the imaging support device includes a design informationspecifying unit that acquires design information of the plurality ofinspection targets in advance and specifies the design information ofthe surrounding inspection target on the basis of the design informationand the surrounding inspection target specified by the inspection targetspecifying unit, the inspection target specifying unit further specifiesa part of the surrounding inspection target in the imaging range of theimaging unit on the basis of the position information and the capturedimage included in the specifying information acquired by the specifyinginformation acquisition unit, and the design information specified bythe design information specifying unit, and the necessity evaluationunit evaluates whether or not there is the image acquisition area in thepart specified by the inspection target specifying unit on the basis ofa result of accessing the database and referring to the maintenance andinspection information of the surrounding inspection target.Accordingly, since the display of the image acquisition area in theimaging terminal can be performed in parts of the surrounding inspectiontarget in the imaging range, the user of the imaging terminal can easilydiscriminate which part of the surrounding inspection target in theimaging range may be imaged.

In the imaging support system according to yet another aspect of thepresent invention, the image acquisition area information output unitoutputs the image acquisition area information indicating the imageacquisition area in the imaging range in which it is evaluated by thenecessity evaluation unit that acquisition of a new captured image isnecessary, to the imaging terminal, and the display unit discriminablydisplays the image acquisition area on the basis of the imageacquisition area information in a case where a live view image isdisplayed on the basis of the captured image obtained by imaging in theimaging unit. Accordingly, it is possible to request a user of theimaging terminal to image the image acquisition area in whichacquisition of a new captured image is necessary.

In the imaging support system according to yet another aspect of thepresent invention, the image acquisition area information includesinformation capable of specifying a position of the image acquisitionarea on a map, and the display unit displays an image acquisition areadisplay map indicating a position of the image acquisition area on themap on the basis of the image acquisition area information output fromthe image acquisition area information output unit. Accordingly, it ispossible to request a user of the imaging terminal to image the imageacquisition area in which acquisition of a new captured image isnecessary.

In the imaging support system according to yet another aspect of thepresent invention, the imaging terminal comprises an image output unitthat outputs the captured image of the image acquisition area to theimaging support device in a case where the imaging unit images the imageacquisition area, and the imaging support device comprises a databasemanagement unit that registers the captured image output from the imageoutput unit in the database as the maintenance and inspectioninformation of the surrounding inspection target corresponding to theimage acquisition area. Accordingly, the captured image captured by theimaging terminal of the ordinary person can be registered in thedatabase as the maintenance and inspection information of thesurrounding inspection target.

In the imaging support system according to yet another aspect of thepresent invention, in a case where the captured image output from theimage output unit of the imaging terminal of a predetermined specificuser is registered in the database, the database management unit erasesthe captured image previously registered in the database as themaintenance and inspection information of the surrounding inspectiontarget, the captured image being acquired from the imaging terminal of auser different from the specific user. Accordingly, the amount of dataregistered in the database can be reduced.

An imaging support device for achieving the object of the presentinvention comprises: a specifying information acquisition unit thatacquires, from an imaging terminal, specifying information which includethe position information of the imaging terminal for specifying asurrounding inspection target which is an inspection target present in apredetermined range with respect to the imaging terminal; an inspectiontarget specifying unit that specifies the surrounding inspection targetamong the plurality of inspection targets on the basis of the specifyinginformation which include the position information of the imagingterminal acquired by the specifying information acquisition unit and theposition information of the inspection target indicating positions ofthe plurality of inspection targets; a necessity evaluation unit thatevaluates whether or not there is an image acquisition area in whichacquisition of a new captured image is necessary for the surroundinginspection target on the basis of a result of accessing a database thatstores maintenance and inspection information including at least acaptured image for each of the plurality of inspection targets andreferring to the maintenance and inspection information of thesurrounding inspection target specified by the inspection targetspecifying unit; and an image acquisition area information output unitthat outputs image acquisition area information indicating the imageacquisition area in which the necessity evaluation unit evaluates thatthe acquisition of a new captured image is necessary to the imagingterminal.

An imaging terminal for achieving the object of the present inventionconstitutes any one of the imaging support systems described above.

An imaging support method for achieving the object of the presentinvention is an imaging support method that supports imaging of aninspection target in an imaging terminal including an imaging unit byusing an imaging support device, the imaging support method comprising:a specifying information acquisition step of acquiring, by the imagingsupport device, specifying information which include the positioninformation of the imaging terminal for specifying a surroundinginspection target which is an inspection target present in apredetermined range with respect to the imaging terminal from theimaging terminal; an inspection target specifying step of acquiring aposition information of the inspection target indicating positions ofthe plurality of inspection targets and specifying, by the imagingsupport device, the surrounding inspection target among the plurality ofinspection targets on the basis of the specifying information whichinclude the position information of the imaging terminal acquired in thespecifying information acquisition step and the position information ofthe inspection target; a necessity evaluation step of evaluating, by theimaging support device, whether or not there is an image acquisitionarea in which acquisition of a new captured image is necessary for thesurrounding inspection target on the basis of a result of accessing adatabase that stores maintenance and inspection information including atleast a captured image for each of the plurality of inspection targetsand referring to the maintenance and inspection information of thesurrounding inspection target specified in the inspection targetspecifying step; an image acquisition area information output step ofoutputting, by the imaging support device, image acquisition areainformation indicating the image acquisition area in which it isevaluated in the necessity evaluation step that the acquisition of a newcaptured image is necessary, to the imaging terminal; and a display stepof displaying, by the imaging terminal, the image acquisition area onthe display unit on the basis of the image acquisition area informationacquired from the imaging support device in the image acquisition areainformation output step.

The imaging support system, device and method, and the imaging terminalof the present invention can efficiently acquire a captured image of aninspection target of which imaging is necessary from an ordinary person.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an imaging support system of a firstembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an imagingterminal and an imaging support device.

FIG. 3 is an illustrative diagram illustrating a process of specifying asurrounding building in a building specifying unit.

FIG. 4 is an illustrative diagram illustrating an example of maintenanceand inspection information registered in a database.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a necessity evaluationprocess in a necessity evaluation unit.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative diagram illustrating a process of step S11 inFIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an illustrative diagram illustrating an example of an imageacquisition area that is displayed on a live view image in a displayunit of an imaging terminal.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an imaging support processfor an imaging terminal in the imaging support system of the firstembodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an imagingsupport device of an imaging support system of a second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an illustrative diagram illustrating an image acquisitionarea of the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an illustrative diagram illustrating an example of an imageacquisition area that is displayed on a live view image in a displayunit of an imaging terminal of the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an imaging support processfor an imaging terminal in the imaging support system of the secondembodiment.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an imagingsupport device that is used in a modification example of the imagingsupport system of the second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an imagingsupport system of a third embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an illustrative diagram illustrating an example of imageacquisition area display map data, entire surrounding building imagedata, and enlarged image data that are displayed on a display unit.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an imaging support processfor an imaging terminal in the imaging support system of the thirdembodiment.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an imagingsupport system of a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 18 is an illustrative diagram illustrating a process of registeringexpert inspection information in a database management unit of thefourth embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an imaging support system 10 of a firstembodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 1, in theimaging support system 10, captured image data 13 of a surroundingbuilding 9 of which imaging is necessary among surrounding buildings 9which are buildings present within a predetermined range around animaging terminal 12 is acquired from the imaging terminal 12 owned by anordinary person. The building is a building corresponding to aninspection target of the present invention (an object that can be aninspection and management target), and includes a bridge, a road, atunnel, a dam, an embankment, a building, and the like. Further, thesurrounding building 9 corresponds to a surrounding inspection target ofthe present invention. Further, an ordinary person refers to a personwho does not have expertise regarding inspection of the building. Thisimaging support system 10 includes an imaging terminal 12 and an imagingsupport device 14.

The imaging support device 14 acquires specifying information 15 thatcan specify the surrounding building 9 from the imaging terminal 12 andspecifies the surrounding building 9. Then, the imaging support device14 evaluates whether or not there is the image acquisition area 17 inwhich acquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary for thepreviously specified surrounding building 9 by referring to a database16 storing maintenance and inspection information 38 (see FIG. 2) of aplurality of buildings (including objects other than the surroundingbuilding 9). In a case where the imaging support device 14 evaluatesthat there is the image acquisition area 17, the imaging support device14 outputs image acquisition area information 17A indicating the imageacquisition area 17 to the imaging terminal 12. As such an imagingsupport device 14, for example, a personal computer, a server, or thelike is suitably used.

In the present invention, the “terminal” means a device havinginformation communication function (preferably, a wireless communicationfunction). As the imaging terminal 12, for example, various portableterminals having an imaging function such as a smartphone, a tabletterminal, and a portable personal computer, or a digital camera having acommunication function (preferably, a wireless communication function)are suitably used. The imaging terminal 12 outputs the above-describedspecifying information 15 to the imaging support device 14, and acquiresand displays the image acquisition area information 17A that is outputfrom the imaging support device 14 in response to the input of thespecifying information 15, to request the user to image the imageacquisition area 17. In a case where the imaging terminal 12 images theimage acquisition area 17, the imaging terminal 12 generates capturedimage data 13 of the image acquisition area 17 and outputs the capturedimage data 13 to the imaging support device 14.

The specifying information 15 output from the imaging terminal 12 to theimaging support device 14 includes position information of the imagingterminal 12 and an imaging direction of the imaging terminal 12 (adirection of an imaging optical axis of the imaging terminal 12). Theposition information is acquired by a position information acquisitionunit 20 (see FIG. 2), which will be described below, including a globalpositioning system (GPS) sensor, a gyro sensor, an acceleration sensor,or the like built in the imaging terminal 12. The imaging direction is athree-dimensional direction, and is acquired by an imaging directionacquisition unit 21 (see FIG. 2) including a three-dimensionalgeomagnetic sensor and a posture detection sensor built in the imagingterminal 12.

Further, in this example, the imaging terminal 12 outputs focal lengthinformation (angle of view information) 23 of an imaging unit 22 (seeFIG. 2) of the imaging terminal 12, and supplementary information 24together with the specifying information 15 to the imaging supportdevice 14. Although will be described in detail below, the focal lengthinformation 23 is used for specifying of an imaging range R (see FIG. 3)of the imaging unit 22 of the imaging terminal 12. The supplementaryinformation 24 is information for outputting (transmitting) theabove-described image acquisition area information 17A from the imagingsupport device 14 to the imaging terminal 12, and is, for example, anInternet protocol address (IP address) of the imaging terminal 12.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating configurations of the imagingterminal 12 and the imaging support device 14. First, the configurationof the imaging support device 14 will be described.

<Imaging Support Device>

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the imaging support device 14 is configured byvarious calculation units including a central processing unit (CPU), aprocessing unit, a storage unit, and the like, and includes a specifyinginformation acquisition unit 30, a building specifying unit 31corresponding to an inspection target specifying unit, a necessityevaluation unit 32, an image acquisition area information output unit33, and a database management unit 34.

The specifying information acquisition unit 30 is, for example, acommunication interface that can be communicatably connected to theimaging terminal 12 in a wired or wireless way and acquires thespecifying information 15, the focal length information 23, and thesupplementary information 24 from the imaging terminal 12. Thespecifying information acquisition unit 30 outputs the acquiredspecifying information 15 and the acquired focal length information 23to the building specifying unit 31. Further, although not illustrated,the specifying information acquisition unit 30 outputs the acquiredsupplementary information 24 to the image acquisition area informationoutput unit 33.

The building specifying unit 31 specifies the surrounding building 9 ofthe imaging terminal 12 on the basis of the position informationincluded in the specifying information 15 input from the specifyinginformation acquisition unit 30 and map information 36 acquired byaccessing the database 16. Further, the building specifying unit 31specifies the surrounding building 9 included in the imaging range R(see FIG. 3) of the imaging unit 22 of the imaging terminal 12 on thebasis of the imaging direction and the focal length information 23included in the specifying information 15.

FIG. 3 is an illustrative diagram illustrating a process of specifyingthe surrounding building 9 in the building specifying unit 31. Asillustrated in FIG. 3, the map information 36 indicates positions of aplurality of buildings (including the surrounding building 9) in acountry in which the imaging support system 10 is used or in a region inwhich the imaging support system 10 is used, for example, GPScoordinates. Further, the map information 36 in this example ispreferably three-dimensional map data so that a three-dimensional shape(solid shape) can be discriminated for each of a plurality of buildingsfrom a plurality of directions. The map information 36 need not bestored in the database 16, but may be stored in a server on theInternet. In this case, the building specifying unit 31 accesses theserver on the Internet to acquire the map information 36.

The building specifying unit 31 identifies the surrounding building 9present within a predetermined range with respect to the imagingterminal 12 by collating the position information included in thespecifying information 15 with the map information 36. In FIG. 3, only abridge is displayed as the surrounding building 9 on the map information36 in order to prevent complication of the drawing, but the surroundingbuilding 9 includes another building such as a road, a tunnel, a dam, anembankment, and a building. Although the “predetermined range” is notparticularly limited, it is preferable for the range to be a range inwhich the surrounding building 9 can be confirmed with naked eye of aphotographer in order to request the user of the imaging terminal 12 toimage the image acquisition area 17. This range can be determined by anexperiment or a simulation.

Then, the building specifying unit 31 identifies the surroundingbuilding 9 (diagonally displayed in the figure) in the imaging range Rof the imaging unit 22 of the imaging terminal 12 from among thepreviously specified surrounding buildings 9 on the basis of the imagingdirection included in the specifying information 15 and the focal lengthinformation 23 (angle of view information). The building specifying unit31 can discriminate an imaging direction in which the imaging opticalaxis of the imaging unit 22 of the imaging terminal 12 is directed, andcan discriminate the imaging range R (angle of view) of the imaging unit22 of the imaging terminal 12 from the focal length information 23.Therefore, the building specifying unit 31 can specify the surroundingbuilding 9 in the imaging range R of the imaging unit 22 of the imagingterminal 12 among the previously specified surrounding buildings 9 onthe basis of a result of the discrimination.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the building specifying unit 31 outputs thespecifying result of specifying the surrounding building 9 in theimaging range R of the imaging terminal 12 (the imaging unit 22) to thenecessity evaluation unit 32. For example, coordinates (for example, GPScoordinates) of the surrounding building 9 are included in thisspecifying result as information capable of specifying the surroundingbuilding 9 in the imaging range R. In a case where a name, an address,or the like of the surrounding building 9 can be specified from the mapinformation 36, the name or the address of the surrounding building 9may be included in the specifying result described above.

The necessity evaluation unit 32 performs necessity evaluation toevaluate whether or not there is an image acquisition area 17 in whichacquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary for thesurrounding building 9 in the imaging range R by referring to themaintenance and inspection information 38 registered in the database 16on the basis of the specifying result input from the building specifyingunit 31.

FIG. 4 is an illustrative diagram illustrating an example of themaintenance and inspection information 38 registered in the database 16.As illustrated in FIG. 4, the maintenance and inspection information 38is information indicating a result of the maintenance and inspectionperformed on a plurality of buildings (including objects other than thesurrounding building 9) in a country or region in which the imagingsupport system 10 is used. This maintenance and inspection information38 includes “Building information”, “Part information”, “Inspectionhistory information”, and “Repair history information”.

The “Building information” is information from which each of a pluralityof buildings can be identified, and includes “identification (ID)” whichis an identification number previously attached to each building, a“name” of the building, a “Position” on the map (in this example,coordinates such as GPS coordinates) of the building, and the like. The“position” preferably includes coordinates of a plurality of points onan outline of the building so that a three-dimensional shape of thebuilding can be recognized. Further, an address of the building and atype (a bridge, a road, a tunnel, a dam, an embankment, a building, orthe like) of building, and the like may be included in the “Buildinginformation.

The “Part information” is information from which a part in whichinspection is necessary in a building can be identified, and includes a“name” of the part and a “Relative position” (coordinates in the presentexample) of the part in the building. The “Name” is, for example, apier, a girder, or the like in a case where the building is a bridge,and a ceiling, a side wall surface, or the like in a case where thebuilding is a tunnel. Since a point (part) in which inspection isnecessary for each type of building is well known, specific descriptionthereof will be omitted. The “Relative position” is position information(coordinates in the present example) with reference to a building, andthis “Relative position” preferably includes position information of aplurality of points of an outline of the part so that athree-dimensional shape of the part can be recognized. Instead of or inaddition to the “Relative position”, an absolute position of an earthreference such as the GPS coordinates described above may be registeredin the “Part information”.

The “Inspection history information” is information indicating a historyof inspection that is performed on a part required to be inspected in abuilding, and includes an “Expert inspection history” and a “Non-expertacquisition history”.

The “Expert inspection history” is an inspection result of an expertwith expertise regarding inspection of a building inspecting a partinside the building, and includes “Inspection date and time”, an“Image”, and a “Degree of damage”. The “Expert inspection history” mayinclude a type (for example, crack, corrosion, looseness, rupture,deflection, or leakage) occurring in the building of the damage.

The “Inspection date and time” is date and time in a case where theinspection of the part of the building has been performed by the expert.The “Image” is captured image data 13 that an expert captures at thetime of inspecting the part of a building.

The “Degree of damage” is an evaluation of a degree of damage occurringat a part inside a building. In this example, the degree of damage isclassified into four categories including category 1 (a state in whichthere is no interference with a function of the building), category 2 (astate in which there is no interference with the function of thebuilding, but it is preferable to take measures from the viewpoint ofpreventive maintenance), category 3 (a state in which interference withthe function of the building is likely to occur, and measures should betaken at an early stage), and category 4 (a state in which interferencewith the function of the building occurs or interference with thefunction of the building is highly likely to occur, and measures shouldbe taken urgently), and evaluated. For details of the four categories,please refer to a periodic road bridge inspection procedure or aperiodic bridge inspection procedure issued by the Ministry of Land,Infrastructure and Transport. The categorization of the degree of damageis not particularly limited to the categorization described above.

The “Non-expert acquisition history” is an acquisition history ofcaptured image data 13 of a building (including a part in the building)imaged by an ordinary person who does not have expertise regardinginspection of the building, that is, the user of the imaging terminal12, and includes “Imaging date and time” and “Image”. The “Imaging dateand time” is date and time when the imaging of the building has beenperformed in the imaging terminal 12, and can be acquired from taginformation of the captured image data 13, for example. The “Image” isthe captured image data 13 of the building imaged by the imagingterminal 12.

The “Repair history information” is information indicating a repairhistory performed on parts of a plurality of buildings, and includes“Repair date and time” and “Image”. The “Repair date and time” is dateand time when repair has been performed on the part in the building. The“Image” is the captured image data 13 obtained by imaging the part inthe building before and after the repair, and is captured by the expert.Further, content of the repair performed on the part in the building maybe registered in the “Repair history information”.

The necessity evaluation unit 32 accesses the database 16 on the basisof the specifying result input from the building specifying unit 31 andrefers to the maintenance and inspection information 38 corresponding tothe surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R. The necessityevaluation unit 32 performs necessity evaluation to evaluate whether ornot there is the image acquisition area 17 in which acquisition of thenew captured image data 13 is necessary for the surrounding building 9in the imaging range R on the basis of whether the “Inspection historyinformation” and the “Repair history information” have been registeredin the maintenance and inspection information 38 that has been referredto, and quality thereof.

Here, in this example (the first embodiment), it is assumed that thenecessity evaluation for the surrounding building 9 in the imaging rangeR is performed in units of individual surrounding buildings 9 in theimaging range R, and is not performed in units of parts of thesurrounding building 9 in order to facilitate understanding of theinvention. That is, the image acquisition area 17 in this example is nota part of the surrounding building 9, and refers to the entiresurrounding building 9 including the part in which acquisition of newcaptured image data 13 is necessary (see FIG. 6). An example in whichthe necessity evaluation for the surrounding building 9 in the imagingrange R is performed in units of parts of the surrounding building 9will be described in the second embodiment to be described below.

Whether the “Inspection history information” and the “Repair historyinformation” have been registered indicates whether or not the capturedimage data 13 obtained by previously imaging the surrounding buildings 9in the imaging range R has been registered in the database 16. In a casewhere the captured image data 13 obtained by previously imaging thesurrounding building 9 in the imaging range R is not registered in thedatabase 16, the acquisition of new captured image data 13 of thesurrounding building 9 is necessary.

The quality of the “Inspection history information” includes an elapsedtime from the “Inspection date and time” registered in “Expertinspection history” to current time and image quality of the registeredcaptured image data 13, and an elapsed time from the “Imaging date andtime” registered in “Non-expert acquisition history” to current time,and image quality of the registered captured image data 13. Further, thequality of the “Repair history information” includes an elapsed timefrom “Repair date and time” registered in the “Repair historyinformation” to current time, and the image quality of registeredcaptured image data 13.

Even in a case where the captured image data 13 obtained by previouslyimaging the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R has beenregistered in the database 16, the captured image data 13 cannot be saidto indicate a current state of the surrounding building 9 in a casewhere a predetermined time (constant time) has elapsed from each of atime of inspection of the expert, a time of imaging of an ordinaryperson, and a time of repair. Therefore, acquisition of new capturedimage data 13 of this surrounding building 9 is necessary.

Further, even in a case where the captured image data 13 obtained bypreviously imaging the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R hasbeen registered in the database 16, a current state of the surroundingbuilding 9 cannot be confirmed from the captured image data 13 in a casewhere the image quality of the captured image data 13 is notappropriate, and therefore, acquisition of the new captured image data13 of this surrounding building 9 is necessary. In a case where theimage quality of the captured image data 13 is appropriate, theresolution, exposure, distortion, blur, or bokeh of the captured imagedata 13 is appropriate in the present example, but the present inventionis not particularly limited thereto.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of the necessity evaluationprocess in the necessity evaluation unit 32. As illustrated in FIG. 5,the necessity evaluation unit 32 evaluates whether or not the “Expertinspection history” has been registered in the individual maintenanceand inspection information 38 by accessing the database 16 and referringto the maintenance and inspection information 38 corresponding to thesurrounding building 9 in the imaging range R (step S1).

Then, for the maintenance and inspection information 38 in which the“Expert inspection history” has been evaluated to have been registered(YES in step S1), the necessity evaluation unit 32 evaluates whether ornot an elapsed time from the “Inspection date and time” registered inthe “Expert inspection history” to the present time is before the elapseof a predetermined time (step S2).

For the maintenance and inspection information 38 in which it isevaluated that the predetermined time has not elapsed from the“Inspection date and time” in step S2 (YES in step S2), the necessityevaluation unit 32 evaluates whether or not the image quality of thecaptured image data 13 registered in the “Expert inspection history” isappropriate (step S3). Since the captured image data 13 registered inthe “Expert inspection history” is also captured by the expert describedabove and the image quality is highly likely to be appropriate, theevaluation in step S3 may be omitted.

In step S3, the necessity evaluation unit 32 detects resolution,exposure, distortion, blur, or bokeh from the captured image data 13registered in the “Expert inspection history”, and evaluates that theimage quality of the captured image data 13 is appropriate in a casewhere all of the resolution, the exposure, the distortion, the blur, andthe bokeh satisfy respective predetermined references (YES in step S3).On the other hand, in a case where one or a predetermined number of theresolution, the exposure, the distortion, the blur, and the bokeh of thecaptured image data 13 do not satisfy the references, the necessityevaluation unit 32 evaluates that the image quality of the capturedimage data 13 is not appropriate (NO in step S3).

The necessity evaluation unit 32 need not to acquire the captured imagedata 13 for the surrounding building 9 in which the correspondingmaintenance and inspection information 38 has been evaluated as YES inall steps S1 to S3 among the surrounding buildings 9 in the imagingrange R, and evaluates that the surrounding building 9 does notcorrespond to the image acquisition area 17 (step S4). Here, in a casewhere there is only one part in the surrounding building 9, the“corresponding maintenance and inspection information 38” in thisexample (the first embodiment) is maintenance and inspection information38 of the part. In a case where there are a plurality of parts in thesurrounding building 9, the “corresponding maintenance and inspectioninformation 38” is maintenance and inspection information 38 of all theparts.

On the other hand, for the maintenance and inspection information 38corresponding to the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range Revaluated as NO in any one of steps S1 to S3, the necessity evaluationunit 32 evaluates whether or not the “Repair history information” isregistered in the maintenance and inspection information 38 (step S5).

Then, for the maintenance and inspection information 38 in which the“Repair history information” has been evaluated to have been registered(YES in step S5), the necessity evaluation unit 32 evaluates whether ornot an elapsed time from the “Repair date and time” registered in the“Repair history information” to the present time is before the elapse ofa predetermined time (step S6).

For the maintenance and inspection information 38 in which it isevaluated that the predetermined time has not elapsed from the “Repairdate and time” in step S5 (YES in step S6), the necessity evaluationunit 32 evaluates whether or not the image quality of the captured imagedata 13 registered in the “Repair history information” is appropriate asin step S3 described above (step S7). Since the captured image data 13registered in the “Repair history information” is also captured by theexpert described above and the image quality is highly likely to beappropriate, the evaluation in step S7 may be omitted.

The necessity evaluation unit 32 need not to acquire new captured imagedata 13 for the surrounding building 9 in which the correspondingmaintenance and inspection information 38 has been evaluated as YES inall of steps S5 to S7 among the surrounding buildings 9 in the imagingrange R, and evaluates that the surrounding building 9 does notcorrespond to the image acquisition area 17 (step S4).

On the other hand, for the maintenance and inspection information 38 ofthe surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R evaluated as NO in anyone of step S5 to step S7, the necessity evaluation unit 32 evaluateswhether or not the “Non-expert acquisition history” has been registeredin the maintenance and inspection information 38 (step S8).

Then, for the maintenance and inspection information 38 in which the“Non-expert acquisition history” has been evaluated to have beenregistered (YES in step S8), the necessity evaluation unit 32 evaluateswhether or not an elapsed time from the “Imaging date and time”registered in the “Non-expert acquisition history” to the present timeis before the elapse of a predetermined time (step S9).

For the maintenance and inspection information 38 in which it isevaluated that the predetermined time has not elapsed from the “Imagingdate and time” in step S9 (YES in step S9), the necessity evaluationunit 32 evaluates whether or not the image quality of the captured imagedata 13 registered in the “Non-expert acquisition history” isappropriate as in step S3 described above (step S10).

The necessity evaluation unit 32 need not to acquire new captured imagedata 13 for the surrounding building 9 in which the correspondingmaintenance and inspection information 38 has been evaluated as YES inall of steps S8 to S10 among the surrounding buildings 9 in the imagingrange R, and evaluates that the surrounding building 9 does notcorrespond to the image acquisition area 17 (step S4).

FIG. 6 is an illustrative diagram illustrating the process of step S11of FIG. 5. As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, in a case where there is thesurrounding building 9 in which the corresponding maintenance andinspection information 38 has been evaluated as NO in any one of stepsS8 to S10 among the surrounding buildings 9 in the imaging range R, thenecessity evaluation unit 32 evaluates that the surrounding building 9corresponds to the image acquisition area 17 in which acquisition of newcaptured image data 13 is necessary (step in FIG. 5).

Thus, the necessity evaluation process in the necessity evaluation unit32 is completed. The necessity evaluation unit 32 outputs the evaluationresult of the necessity evaluation to the image acquisition areainformation output unit 33 (see FIGS. 2 and 4).

The necessity evaluation method in the necessity evaluation unit 32 isnot limited to the method described in the flowchart illustrated in FIG.5, and may be appropriately changed. For example, the evaluation (stepsS1 to S3) of the “Expert inspection history”, the evaluation of the“Repair history information” (steps S5 to S7), and the evaluation of the“Non-expert acquisition history” (steps S8 to S10) may be weighted, andweights may be summed each time the surrounding building 9 is evaluatedas YES in each evaluation, and necessity evaluation may be performed onthe basis of a sum of the weights of the respective evaluations. In thiscase, it is evaluated whether or not the surrounding building 9 does notcorrespond to or corresponds to the image acquisition area 17 on thebasis of whether the sum of the weights of the respective evaluations isequal to or greater than a predetermined reference value.

Further, items of the necessity evaluation in the necessity evaluationunit 32 are not limited to the evaluation (steps S1 to S3) of the“Expert inspection history” described in the flowchart illustrated inFIG. 5, the evaluation of the “Repair history information” (steps S5 toS7), and the evaluation of the “Non-expert acquisition history” (stepsS8 to S10), and evaluation items may be appropriately added. Further,the evaluations to be executed and the evaluations not to be executedamong the evaluations of the respective steps illustrated in FIG. 5 maybe selected.

Referring back to FIG. 2, in a case where there is the image acquisitionarea 17 in which acquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessaryfor the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R of the imagingterminal 12, the image acquisition area information output unit 33generates the image acquisition area information 17A indicating thisimage acquisition area 17 on the basis of the evaluation result of thenecessity evaluation input from the necessity evaluation unit 32. Theimage acquisition area information output unit 33 outputs the generatedimage acquisition area information 17A to the imaging terminal 12 thatis an output source (transmission source) of the specifying information15 or the like on the basis of the supplementary information 24previously acquired from the specifying information acquisition unit 30.The image acquisition area information output unit 33 may be integratedwith the specifying information acquisition unit 30 described above.

The image acquisition area information 17A includes informationindicating a position and a shape of the image acquisition area 17 inthe imaging range R of the imaging terminal 12.

For example, in a case where the above-described map information 36 isthree-dimensional map data, the position and the shape of the imageacquisition area 17 (the surrounding building 9 corresponding to theimage acquisition area 17) in the imaging range R can be discriminatedon the basis of the three-dimensional shape of the surrounding building9 recorded in map information 36, the position information and theimaging direction of the imaging terminal 12, and the focal lengthinformation 23 of the imaging terminal 12. In a case where a pluralityof coordinates indicating an outline of the surrounding building 9 areregistered in the “position” of the “Building information” of themaintenance and inspection information 38 in the database 16, theposition and the shape of the image acquisition area 17 can bediscriminated by obtaining a three-dimensional shape of the surroundingbuilding 9 corresponding to the image acquisition area 17 from thesecoordinates and comparing the three-dimensional shape with otherposition information, imaging direction, and focal length information23. A method of discriminating the position and the shape of the imageacquisition area 17 in the imaging range R is not particularly limited.

The database management unit 34 acquires the captured image data 13 ofthe image acquisition area 17 described below output from the imagingterminal 12, and registers the captured image data 13 in the “Non-expertacquisition history” of the maintenance and inspection information 38 ofthe surrounding building 9 corresponding to the image acquisition area17.

<Imaging Terminal>

The imaging terminal 12 includes the above-described positioninformation acquisition unit 20, the above-described imaging directionacquisition unit 21, the above-described imaging unit 22, a storage unit40, a specifying information output unit 41, an image acquisition areainformation acquisition unit 42, a display control unit 43, a displayunit 44, and an image output unit 45.

The storage unit 40 stores a program 46 that is an application programfor causing the imaging terminal 12 to function as a part of the imagingsupport system 10, and the above-described supplementary information 24.By staring up this program 46, the output of the specifying information15 or the like in the imaging terminal 12, the acquisition and displayof the image acquisition area information 17A in the imaging terminal12, and the output of the captured image data 13 in the imaging terminal12 to the imaging support device 14 are executed.

The imaging unit 22 includes an optical system and an image sensor, andstarts imaging of the subject including the surrounding building 9 andsequentially outputs the captured image data 13 for a live view displayto the display control unit 43 under the control of the program 46.Further, the imaging unit 22 outputs the focal length information 23 ofthe optical system to the specifying information output unit 41 underthe control of the program 46.

The specifying information output unit 41 outputs the specifyinginformation 15 including the position information acquired by theposition information acquisition unit 20 and the imaging directionacquired by the imaging direction acquisition unit 21 to the imagingsupport device 14 under the control of the program 46. Further, thespecifying information output unit 41 outputs the focal lengthinformation 23 acquired from the imaging unit 22 and the supplementaryinformation 24 acquired from the storage unit 40 to the imaging supportdevice 14. Accordingly, the specifying information acquisition unit 30of the imaging support device 14 acquires the specifying information 15,the focal length information 23, and the supplementary information 24.As a result, the above-described image acquisition area information 17Ais output from the image acquisition area information output unit 33 ofthe imaging support device 14 to the imaging terminal 12.

The image acquisition area information acquisition unit 42 is acommunication interface that can be communicatably connected to theimaging support device 14 in a wired or wireless way. The imageacquisition area information acquisition unit 42 may be integrated withthe specifying information output unit 41 described above. The imageacquisition area information acquisition unit 42 acquires the imageacquisition area information 17A output from the image acquisition areainformation output unit 33 and outputs the image acquisition areainformation 17A to the display control unit 43 under the control of theprogram 46.

The display control unit 43 displays the live view image on the displayunit 44 of the imaging terminal 12 on the basis of the captured imagedata 13 input from the imaging unit 22 under the control of the program46. For example, an example of the display unit 44 may include aso-called touch panel that displays an image, text information, or thelike to visually deliver information to the user, and detects a useroperation with respect to the displayed information. The display unit 44is not limited to a display unit provided integrally with the imagingterminal 12, and includes a display unit connected to the imagingterminal 12 in a wired or wireless way.

In a case where the image acquisition area information 17A is input fromthe image acquisition area information acquisition unit 42, the displaycontrol unit 43 can cause the image acquisition area 17 to bediscriminably displayed on the live view image by the display unit 44 onthe basis of the image acquisition area information 17A.

FIG. 7 is an illustrative diagram illustrating an example of the imageacquisition area 17 displayed on the live view image by the display unit44 of the imaging terminal 12. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the displaycontrol unit 43 discriminates the position and the shape of the imageacquisition area 17 within the display surface of the display unit 44 onthe basis of the position and the shape of the image acquisition area 17in the imaging range R included in the image acquisition areainformation 17A. The display control unit 43 changes a display aspect ofthe portion corresponding to the image acquisition area 17 in the liveview image displayed on the display unit 44 on the basis of thediscrimination result.

Here, when the display aspect is changed, brightness or color tone(saturation or hue) of the portion corresponding to the imageacquisition area 17 in the display unit 44 is changed, or variouspatterns or mark or the like is displayed to be superimposed (overlayed)on the portion corresponding to the image acquisition area 17.Accordingly, the image acquisition area 17 can be discriminablydisplayed on the live view image displayed on the display unit 44. As aresult, it is possible to request the user of the imaging terminal 12 toimage the image acquisition area 17 (the surrounding building 9 in whichacquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary).

Referring back to FIG. 2, in a case where the imaging unit 22 receivesan input of the imaging operation from the user of the imaging terminal12 while the live view image is being displayed by the display unit 44,the imaging unit 22 performs imaging of a subject (the image acquisitionarea 17) to generate captured image data 13, and outputs the capturedimage data. 13 to the image output unit 45 under the control of theprogram 46.

The image output unit 45 outputs the captured image data 13 input fromthe imaging unit 22 to the imaging support device 14 under the controlof the program 46. Accordingly, the captured image data 13 of the imageacquisition area 17 is acquired by the database management unit 34, andthe captured image data 13 is registered in the “Non-expert acquisitionhistory” of the maintenance and inspection information 38 of thesurrounding building 9 corresponding to the image acquisition area 17.

[Operation of Image Registration System of First Embodiment]

Next, an operation of the imaging support system 10 having the aboveconfiguration will be described with reference to FIG. 8. FIG. 8 is aflowchart illustrating a flow of the imaging support process (theimaging support method of the present invention) for the imagingterminal 12 in the imaging support system 10 of the first embodiment.

<Output of Specifying Information from Imaging Terminal>

In a case where the user of the imaging terminal 12 performs a start-upoperation of the program 46, the program 46 is executed in the imagingterminal 12 (step S20). Under the control of the program 46, the imagingunit 22 starts imaging a subject including the surrounding building 9,and sequentially outputs the captured image data 13 for a live viewdisplay to the display control unit 43. Accordingly, the display controlunit 43 displays a live view image on the display unit 44 (step S21).

Further, under the control of the program 46, the imaging support device14 outputs the specifying information 15 based on the positioninformation acquired from the position information acquisition unit 20and the imaging direction acquired from the imaging directionacquisition unit 21 to the specifying information output unit 41 (stepS22). Further, the specifying information output unit 41 outputs thefocal length information 23 acquired from the imaging unit 22 and thesupplementary information 24 acquired from the storage unit 40 to theimaging support device 14.

<Necessity Evaluation in Imaging Support Device>

The specifying information acquisition unit 30 of the imaging supportdevice 14 acquires the specifying information 15, the focal lengthinformation 23, and the supplementary information 24 output from theimaging terminal 12 (step S23, which corresponds to a specifyinginformation acquisition step of the present invention). The specifyinginformation acquisition unit 30 outputs the acquired specifyinginformation 15 and the acquired focal length information 23 to thebuilding specifying unit 31, and outputs the acquired supplementaryinformation 24 to the image acquisition area information output unit 33.

The building specifying unit 31 which has received an input of thespecifying information 15 and the focal length information 23 from thespecifying information acquisition unit 30, as illustrated in FIG. 3described above, first specifies the surrounding building 9 of theimaging terminal 12 on the basis of the position information included inthe specifying information 15 and the map information 36 acquired fromthe database 16 (step S24, which corresponds to an inspection targetspecifying step of the present invention). Then, the building specifyingunit 31 specifies the surrounding building 9 included in the imagingrange R of the imaging terminal 12 (the imaging unit 22) on the basis ofthe imaging direction and the focal length information 23 included inthe specifying information 15, and outputs a specifying result to thenecessity evaluation unit 32.

The necessity evaluation unit 32 which has received an input of thespecifying result of the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range Rfrom the building specifying unit 31 accesses the database 16 on thebasis of this specifying result and refers to maintenance and inspectioninformation 38 corresponding to the surrounding building 9 in theimaging range R. The necessity evaluation unit 32 performs necessityevaluation to evaluate whether or not there is the image acquisitionarea 17 in which acquisition of the new captured image data 13 isnecessary for the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R (stepS25, which corresponds to a necessity evaluation step of the presentinvention), as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 described above. Thenecessity evaluation unit 32 outputs an evaluation result of necessityevaluation to the image acquisition area information output unit 33.

In a case where there is the image acquisition area 17 for thesurrounding building 9 in the imaging range R, the image acquisitionarea information output unit 33 which has received the evaluation resultof the necessity evaluation from the necessity evaluation unit 32generates the image acquisition area information 17A includinginformation indicating a position and a shape of the image acquisitionarea 17 in the imaging range R, as described above (YES in step S26). Onthe other hand, in a case where there is no image acquisition area 17,the image acquisition area information output unit 33 enters a standbystate until the evaluation result indicating that there is the imageacquisition area 17 is input from the necessity evaluation unit 32 (NOin step S26).

In the case of YES in step S26, the image acquisition area informationoutput unit 33 outputs the image acquisition area information 17A to theimaging terminal 12 that is the output source (transmission source) ofthe specifying information 15 or the like on the basis of thesupplementary information 24 previously acquired from the specifyinginformation acquisition unit 30 (step S27, which corresponds to an imageacquisition area information output step of the present invention).

<Display of Image Acquisition Area in Imaging Terminal>

The image acquisition area information acquisition unit 42 of theimaging terminal 12 enters a standby state until the image acquisitionarea information 17A is output from the imaging support device 14. Inthis case, the display of the live view image on the display unit 44described in step S21 described above and the output of the specifyinginformation 15 or the like described in step S22 described above arecontinued (NO in step S28).

In a case where the image acquisition area information 17A is outputfrom the imaging support device 14, the image acquisition areainformation acquisition unit 42 acquires the image acquisition areainformation 17A and outputs the image acquisition area information 17Ato the display control unit 43 (YES in step S28).

The display control unit 43 which has received an input of the imageacquisition area information 17A from the image acquisition areainformation acquisition unit 42 discriminates a position and a shape ofthe image acquisition area 17 within a display surface of the displayunit 44 on the basis of the image acquisition area information 17A. Thedisplay control unit 43 changes a display aspect of a portioncorresponding to the image acquisition area 17 within the live viewimage displayed on the display unit 44, as illustrated in FIG. 7described above on the basis of a result of the discrimination of theposition and the shape of the image acquisition area 17. Accordingly,the image acquisition area 17 is discriminably displayed on the liveview image displayed on the display unit 44 (step S29, which correspondsto a display step of the present invention). As a result, the user ofthe imaging terminal 12 can recognize the surrounding building 9 inwhich acquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary in theimage acquisition area 17, that is, the surrounding building 9 in theimaging range R.

<Output of Captured Image Data of Image Acquisition Area>

The user of the imaging ter urinal 12 adjusts a position and a directionof the imaging terminal 12 so that the image acquisition area 17 islocated at a center of the imaging range R (angle of view) of theimaging unit 22 on the basis of the image acquisition area 17 in thelive view image displayed on the display unit 44. Zoom adjustment or thelike may be performed as necessary. Then, the user performs an imagingoperation on the imaging terminal 12 (YES in step S30). The imaging unit22 receives this imaging operation, and performs imaging of the imageacquisition area 17 to generate captured image data 13, and outputs thecaptured image data 13 to the image output unit 45 under the control ofthe program 46.

The image output unit 45 which has received the captured image data 13of the image acquisition area 17 from the imaging unit 22 outputs thecaptured image data 13 to the imaging support device 14 under thecontrol of the program 46 (step S31).

<Registration in Database>

The database management unit 34 of the imaging support device 14acquires the captured image data 13 of the image acquisition area 17output from the imaging terminal 12 (step S32). Then, the databasemanagement unit 34 accesses the database 16 and registers the acquiredcaptured image data 13 of the image acquisition area 17 in the“Non-expert acquisition history” of the maintenance and inspectioninformation 38 of the surrounding building 9 corresponding to this imageacquisition area 17 (step S33).

[Effects of First Embodiment]

As described above, the imaging support system 10 (the imaging supportdevice 14) of the first embodiment performs the necessity evaluation asto whether or not there is the image acquisition area 17 in whichacquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary for thesurrounding building 9 in the imaging range R of the imaging terminal 12on the basis of, for example, the specifying information 15 acquiredfrom the imaging terminal 12 of an ordinary person, and outputs theimage acquisition area information 17A indicating the image acquisitionarea 17 in which acquisition is evaluated to be necessary to the imagingterminal 12. Thus, it is possible to request the user of the imagingterminal 12 to image the image acquisition area 17. As a result, it ispossible to efficiently acquire the captured image data 13 of thebuilding in which imaging is necessary from the imaging terminal 12 ofthe ordinary person and register the captured image data 13 in thedatabase 16.

[Imaging Support System of Second Embodiment]

Next, an imaging support system of a second embodiment of the presentinvention will be described. In the first embodiment described above,the necessity evaluation unit 32 of the imaging support device 14performs the necessity evaluation in units of the surrounding building 9in the imaging range R, and the imaging terminal 12 performs the displayof the image acquisition area 17 in units of the surrounding building 9in the imaging range R. On the other hand, in the imaging support systemof the second embodiment, the necessity evaluation is performed in unitsof a part (see FIG. 4) of the surrounding building 9 in the imagingrange R, and the display of the image acquisition area 17 in the imagingterminal 12 is performed in units of the parts of the surroundingbuilding 9 in the imaging range R.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an imagingsupport device 14A of the imaging support system of the secondembodiment. The imaging support system of the second embodiment hasbasically the same configuration as the imaging support system 10 of thefirst embodiment except that a part of the configuration of the imagingsupport device 14A is different from that of the imaging support device14 of the first embodiment. Therefore, the same functions orconfigurations as those of the first embodiment are denoted with thesame reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the imaging support device 14A of the secondembodiment has basically the same configuration as the imaging supportdevice 14 of the first embodiment except that the imaging support device14A of the second embodiment includes a design information specifyingunit 51, a building specifying unit 31A corresponding to an inspectiontarget specifying unit of the present invention, and a necessityevaluation unit 32A.

The design information specifying unit 51 acquires design information 53of a plurality of buildings (including objects other than surroundingbuilding 9) from a database 16, and specifies the design information 53of the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R on the basis of theacquired design information 53 and the specifying result of thesurrounding building 9 in the imaging range R of the imaging terminal 12acquired from the building specifying unit 31A to be describe below. Thedesign information 53 need not be registered in a database 16 but may beregistered in a server on the Internet. In this case, the designinformation specifying unit 51 acquires design information 53 of aplurality of buildings from the server on the Internet.

The design information 53 includes, for example, “Part information” fromwhich all parts (including objects in which inspection is not necessary)in the building in addition to the “Building information” illustrated inFIG. 4 described above can be identified. The “Part information”includes, for example, the “name” of the part illustrated in FIG. 4 anda “Relative position” (an absolute position, or both of the relativeposition and the absolute position) of the part in the building. Sincethe position (the relative position or the absolute position) of eachpart in the building can be discriminated by referring to the designinformation 53, any part in the imaging range R can be specified in acase where the building is imaged from an arbitrary direction. Thedesign information specifying unit 51 outputs the design information 53of the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R to the buildingspecifying unit 31A.

Similar to the building specifying unit 31 of the first embodiment, thebuilding specifying unit 31A specifies the surrounding building 9 in theimaging range R of the imaging terminal 12 and outputs the specifyingresult to the design information specifying unit 51. Accordingly, thebuilding specifying unit 31A can acquire the design information 53 ofthe surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R, as described above.

Next, the building specifying unit 31A also specifies the part of thesurrounding building 9 in the imaging range R on the basis of theposition information and the imaging direction included in thespecifying information 15 acquired from the specifying informationacquisition unit 30, and the design information 53 of the surroundingbuilding 9 in the imaging range R acquired from the design informationspecifying unit 51. Since the position (the relative position or theabsolute position) of each part in the surrounding building 9 can bediscriminated on the basis of the design information 53 of thesurrounding building 9 in the imaging range R, it is also possible tospecify the part of the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R ina case where the surrounding building 9 is imaged from the position atwhich the imaging terminal 12 is present and the imaging direction.

The building specifying unit 31A outputs a specifying result ofspecifying the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R of theimaging unit 22 of the imaging terminal 12 and the part thereof to thenecessity evaluation unit 32A. This specifying result includes, forexample, coordinates of the surrounding building 9 and coordinates ofthe relative position or the absolute position of the part in theimaging range R as information capable of specifying the surroundingbuilding 9 in the imaging range R and the part thereof. Names of thesurrounding building 9 and the part may be included in the specifyingresult described above in a case where names of the surrounding building9 and the part in the imaging range R can also be specified from thedesign information 53.

The necessity evaluation unit 32A accesses the database 16 on the basisof the specifying result input from the building specifying unit 31A andrefers to the maintenance and inspection information 38 (see FIG. 4)corresponding to the part of the surrounding building 9 in the imagingrange R. The necessity evaluation unit 32A performs necessity evaluationto evaluate whether or not there is an image acquisition area 17 inwhich acquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary in the partof the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R on the basis ofwhether or not the “Inspection history information” and the “Repairhistory information” in the maintenance and inspection information 38that has been referred to are registered and quality thereof.

Specifically, the necessity evaluation unit 32A performs the necessityevaluation described with reference to FIG. 5 as described above foreach piece of maintenance and inspection information 38 corresponding tothe part of the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R. Thenecessity evaluation unit 32A need not to acquire new captured imagedata 13 for the part of the surrounding building 9 in which thecorresponding maintenance and inspection information 38 has beenevaluated as YES in all of steps S1 to S3 among the parts of thesurrounding buildings 9 in the imaging range R, and evaluates that thepart of the surrounding building 9 does not correspond to the imageacquisition area 17 (step S4). Further, the necessity evaluation unit32A similarly need not to acquire new captured image data 13 for thepart of the surrounding building 9 in which the correspondingmaintenance and inspection information 38 has been evaluated as YES inall of steps S5 to S7 or all of steps S8 to S10, and evaluates that thepart of the surrounding building 9 does not correspond to the imageacquisition area 17 (step S4).

In a case where there is the part in which the corresponding maintenanceand inspection information 38 has been evaluated as NO in any one ofsteps S8 to S10 among the parts of the surrounding buildings 9 in theimaging range R, the necessity evaluation unit 32A evaluates that thepart of the surrounding building 9 corresponds to the image acquisitionarea 17 in which acquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary(step S11).

FIG. 10 is an illustrative diagram illustrating the image acquisitionarea 17 of the second embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 10, since thenecessity evaluation unit 32A of the second embodiment performs thenecessity evaluation in units of the parts of the surrounding building 9in the imaging range R, it can be evaluated whether or not there is theimage acquisition area 17 in which acquisition of new captured imagedata 13 is necessary in units of the parts of the surrounding building 9in the imaging range R. Accordingly, for example, it can bediscriminated that a pier in a bridge in the imaging range R is theimage acquisition area 17 in which acquisition of new captured imagedata 13 is necessary. The necessity evaluation unit 32A outputs anevaluation result of the necessity evaluation to the image acquisitionarea information output unit 33.

Referring back to FIG. 9, in a case where there is the image acquisitionarea 17 in which acquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessaryin the part of the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R of theimaging terminal 12, the image acquisition area information output unit33 of the second embodiment generates the image acquisition areainformation 17A indicating this image acquisition area 17 on the basisof the evaluation result of the necessity evaluation input from thenecessity evaluation unit 32A. The image acquisition area information17A includes information indicating the position and the shape of theimage acquisition area 17 in the imaging range R of the imaging terminal12, as in the first embodiment. The image acquisition area informationoutput unit 33 outputs the generated image acquisition area information17A to the imaging terminal 12 that is an output source of thespecifying information 15 or the like, as in the first embodimentdescribed above.

A configuration for performing a process after the output of the imageacquisition area information 17A to the imaging terminal 12 is basicallythe same as that in the first embodiment. In a case where the imageacquisition area information 17A is input from the image acquisitionarea information acquisition unit 42, the display control unit 43 of theimaging terminal 12 of the second embodiment causes the display unit 44to discriminably display the image acquisition area 17 on a live viewimage on the basis of the image acquisition area information 17A.

FIG. 11 is an illustrative diagram illustrating an example of the imageacquisition area 17 that is displayed on the live view image by thedisplay unit 44 of the imaging terminal 12 of the second embodiment. Asillustrated in FIG. 11, in the second embodiment, since the necessityevaluation is performed in units of the parts of the surroundingbuilding 9 in the imaging range R, it is possible to change a displayaspect of the part corresponding to the image acquisition area 17 amongthe parts of the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R. Since aconfiguration for performing subsequent processes is basically the sameas that in the first embodiment described above, specific descriptionthereof will be omitted.

[Operation of Imaging Support System of Second Embodiment]

Next, an operation of the imaging support system (the imaging supportdevice 14A) of the second embodiment will be described with reference toFIG. 12. FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an imagingsupport process (an imaging support method of the present invention) forthe imaging terminal 12 in the imaging support system (the imagingsupport device 14A) of the second embodiment. Since a flow of processfrom step S20 to step S24 is basically the same as that in the firstembodiment illustrated in FIG. 8 described above, specific descriptionthereof will be omitted herein.

<Imaging Support Device According to Second Embodiment>

In step S24, the building specifying unit 31A specifies the surroundingbuilding 9 in the imaging range R of the imaging terminal 12, and thenoutputs a specifying result to the design information specifying unit51, as in the first embodiment. Then, the design information specifyingunit 51 specifies the design information 53 of the surrounding building9 in the imaging range R on the basis of the specifying result inputfrom the building specifying unit 31A and the design information 53 of aplurality of buildings acquired from the database 16, and outputs thedesign information 53 to the building specifying unit 31A (step S24A1).Accordingly, the building specifying unit 31A also specifies the part ofthe surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R on the basis of theposition information and the imaging direction included in thepreviously acquired specifying information 15 and the design information53 of the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R (step S24A2).The building specifying unit 31A outputs the result of specifying thesurrounding building 9 in the imaging range R and the part thereof tothe necessity evaluation unit 32A.

The necessity evaluation unit 32A that has received an input of thespecifying result from the building specifying unit 31A accesses thedatabase 16 on the basis of the specifying result and refers to themaintenance and inspection information 38 corresponding to the part ofthe surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R. Then, the necessityevaluation unit 32A performs the necessity evaluation described in FIG.5 described above for each piece of the maintenance and inspectioninformation 38 corresponding to the part of the surrounding building 9in the imaging range R (step S25A). Accordingly, it is possible toevaluate whether or not there is an image acquisition area 17 in whichacquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary in units of theparts of the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R. Thenecessity evaluation unit 32A outputs the evaluation result of thenecessity evaluation to the image acquisition area information outputunit 33.

Since the process from step S26 to step S28 is basically the same as inthe first embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8 described above, specificdescription thereof will be omitted herein.

<Imaging Terminal of Second Embodiment>

In the case of “YES” in step S28, the display control unit 43 of theimaging terminal 12 discriminates a position and a shape of the imageacquisition area 17 in the display surface of the display unit 44 on thebasis of the image acquisition area information 17A input from the imageacquisition area information acquisition unit 42. The display controlunit 43 changes a display aspect of a portion corresponding to the imageacquisition area 17 within the live view image displayed on the displayunit 44, as illustrated in FIG. 11 described above on the basis of aresult of the discrimination of the position and the shape of the imageacquisition area 17. Accordingly, the image acquisition area 17 isdiscriminably displayed on the live view image displayed on the displayunit 44 (step S29A). As a result, the user of the imaging terminal 12can discriminate whether or not there is the image acquisition area 17in which acquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary in thepart of the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R.

Since the process after step S30 is basically the same as in the firstembodiment illustrated in FIG. 8 described above, specific descriptionthereof will be omitted herein.

[Effects of Second Embodiment]

As described above, in the imaging support system (the imaging supportdevice 14A) of the second embodiment, since the necessity evaluation asto whether or not there is the image acquisition area 17 in whichacquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary is performed inunits of the parts of the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R,the display of the image acquisition area 17 in the imaging terminal 12can be performed in units of the parts of the surrounding building 9 inthe imaging range R. Accordingly, the user of the imaging terminal caneasily discriminate which part of the surrounding building 9 in theimaging range R may be imaged. As a result, as in the first embodiment,it is possible to request the user of the imaging terminal 12 to imagethe image acquisition area 17, and therefore, it is possible toefficiently acquire the captured image data 13 of the building in whichimaging is necessary from the imaging terminal 12 of the ordinary personand register the captured image data 13 in the database 16.

[Modification Example of Imaging Support System (Imaging Support Device)of Second Embodiment]

Next, a modification example of the imaging support system of the secondembodiment will be described. In this modification example, the methodof specifying the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R and thepart thereof are different from in the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a block illustrating a configuration of an imaging supportdevice 14A1 that is used in a modification example of the imagingsupport system of the second embodiment. The imaging support system ofthe modification example of the second embodiment has basically the sameconfiguration as that of the second embodiment except that the imagingsupport device 14A1 includes a specifying information acquisition unit30A1 and a building specifying unit 31A1. Therefore, the same functionsor configurations as those of the second embodiment are denoted with thesame reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

As illustrated in FIG. 13, the specifying information acquisition unit30A1 of the imaging support device 14A1 acquires specifying information15A1 and supplementary information 24 from the imaging terminal 12. Thisspecifying information 15A1 includes the above-described positioninformation and the captured image data 13 for a live view displaycaptured by the imaging unit 22 of the imaging terminal 12. Although notillustrated, in the modification example of the imaging support systemof the second embodiment, the specifying information output unit 41 (seeFIG. 2) of the imaging terminal 12 outputs the specifying information15A1 including the position information acquired by the positioninformation acquisition unit 20 and the captured image data 13 for alive view display captured by the imaging unit 22 to the imaging supportdevice 14A1.

The building specifying unit 31A1 acquires the design information 53 ofthe surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R from the designinformation specifying unit 51 by specifying the surrounding building 9in the imaging range R of the imaging terminal 12 and outputting aspecifying result to the design information specifying unit 51, similarto the building specifying unit 31A of the second embodiment. It isassumed that data indicating appearance shapes of a plurality ofbuildings (including the surrounding building 9) and respective partsthereof have been registered in the design information 53 in thisexample.

The building specifying unit 31A1 analyzes the captured image data 13included in the specifying information 15A1 acquired from the specifyinginformation acquisition unit 30A1 and specifies the captured image data13, that is, the surrounding building 9 included in the imaging range Rof the imaging terminal 12. As a method of specifying the surroundingbuilding 9 in the captured image data 13 (imaging range R), for example,a method of performing template matching using external shape data ofthe surrounding building 9 included in the acquired design information53 as a template image and searching for (extracting) a surroundingbuilding having a matching appearance shape from the captured image data13 is used.

Then, the building specifying unit 31A1, for example, performs templatematching using external shape data of each part of the surroundingbuilding 9 included in the design information 53 as a template image onthe basis of the design information 53 of the surrounding building 9 inthe specified imaging range R, and searches for a part having a matchingappearance shape from the captured image data 13 to specify the part ofthe surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R.

In this example, the template matching method has been exemplified as amethod of specifying the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range Rand the part thereof from the captured image data 13, but the specifyingmethod is not limited to the template matching method.

Thus, the building specifying unit 31A1 of the modification example ofthe second embodiment can specify the surrounding building 9 in theimaging range R of the imaging unit 22 of the imaging terminal 12 andthe part thereof, similar to the building specifying unit 31A of thesecond embodiment. The building specifying unit 31A1 outputs a result ofspecifying the surrounding building 9 in the imaging range R and thepart thereof to the necessity evaluation unit 32A.

Since a configuration for performing a subsequent process is basicallythe same as that of the second embodiment described above, specificdescription thereof will be omitted. Accordingly, the same effect asthat of the second embodiment can be obtained. In a case where thebuilding specifying unit 31 of the first embodiment specifies thesurrounding building 9 in the imaging range R, the building specifyingunit 31 may perform specifying using the position information acquiredfrom the imaging terminal 12 and the captured image data 13, similar tothe modification example of the second embodiment.

[Imaging Support System of Third Embodiment]

Next, an imaging support system 10B of the third embodiment of thepresent invention will be described with reference to FIG. 14. FIG. 14is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the imaging supportsystem 10B of the third embodiment. In each of the above-describedembodiments, the image acquisition area 17 is discriminably displayed onthe live view image displayed on the display unit 44, whereas in theimaging support system 10B of the third embodiment, a map indicating aposition of the image acquisition area 17 is displayed on the displayunit 44. The imaging support system 10B includes an imaging terminal 12Band an imaging support device 14B. The same functions or configurationsas those in each of the above embodiments are denoted with the samereference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

<Imaging Support Device of Third Embodiment>

The imaging support device 14B of the third embodiment includes aspecifying information acquisition unit 30B, a building specifying unit31B corresponding to an inspection target specifying unit of the presentinvention, a necessity evaluation unit 32B, an image acquisition areainformation output unit 33B, and a database management unit 34.

The specifying information acquisition unit 30B acquires the specifyinginformation 15B including the position information of the imagingterminal 12B and the supplementary information 24 from the imagingterminal 12B and outputs the acquired specifying information 15B to thebuilding specifying unit 31B. Further, the specifying informationacquisition unit 30B outputs the supplementary information 24 to theimage acquisition area information output unit 33B, as in the firstembodiment.

The building specifying unit 31B specifies the surrounding building 9 ofthe imaging terminal 12B as in the first embodiment on the basis of thespecifying information 15B input from the specifying informationacquisition unit 30B and the map information 36 acquired from thedatabase 16, and outputs the specifying result to the necessityevaluation unit 32B.

The necessity evaluation unit 32B accesses the database 16 on the basisof the specifying result of the surrounding building 9 input from thebuilding specifying unit 31B and refers to the maintenance andinspection information 38 (see FIG. 4) corresponding to the surroundingbuilding 9. In this case, since the maintenance and inspectioninformation 38 of this example is registered in the database 16 for eachpart of the surrounding building 9, the necessity evaluation unit 32Brefers to the maintenance and inspection information 38 corresponding toall parts of the surrounding building 9.

Then, the necessity evaluation unit 32B performs the necessityevaluation described with reference to FIG. 5 as described above, foreach piece of maintenance and inspection information 38 corresponding toeach part of the surrounding building 9. Specifically, the necessityevaluation unit 32B need not to acquire new captured image data 13 forthe part of the surrounding building 9 in which the correspondingmaintenance and inspection information 38 has been evaluated as YES inall of steps S1 to S3 illustrated in FIG. 5 described above among theparts of the surrounding buildings 9 in the imaging range R, andevaluates that the part of the surrounding building 9 does notcorrespond to the image acquisition area 17 (step S4). Further, thenecessity evaluation unit 32B similarly need not to acquire new capturedimage data 13 for the part of the surrounding building 9 in which thecorresponding maintenance and inspection information 38 has beenevaluated as YES in all of steps S5 to S7 or all of steps S8 to S10, andevaluates that the part of the surrounding building 9 does notcorrespond to the image acquisition area 17 (step S4).

In a case where there is the part of the surrounding buildings 9 inwhich the corresponding maintenance and inspection information 38 hasbeen evaluated as NO in any one of steps S8 to S10 among the parts ofthe surrounding buildings 9 in the imaging range R, the necessityevaluation unit 32B evaluates that the part of the surrounding building9 corresponds to the image acquisition area 17 in which acquisition ofnew captured image data 13 is necessary (step S11). The necessityevaluation unit 32B outputs the evaluation result of the necessityevaluation to the image acquisition area information output unit 33B.

In a case where there is the image acquisition area 17 in whichacquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary in the part ofthe surrounding building 9, the image acquisition area informationoutput unit 33B generates the image acquisition area information 17Bindicating this image acquisition area 17 on the basis of the evaluationresult of the necessity evaluation input from the necessity evaluationunit 32B.

The image acquisition area information 17B includes information capableof specifying the position of the surrounding building 9 at which theimage acquisition area 17 exists on the map, and information capable ofspecifying the part of the surrounding building 9 evaluated tocorrespond to the image acquisition area 17 in the surrounding building9. For example, in this example, the “Building information” illustratedin FIG. 4 is used as the information capable of specifying the positionon the map of the surrounding building 9, and the “Part information”illustrated in FIG. 4 as described above is used as the informationcapable of specifying the part of the surrounding building 9 evaluatedto correspond to the image acquisition area 17. The image acquisitionarea information output unit 33B outputs the generated image acquisitionarea information 17B to the imaging terminal 12B that is an outputsource of the specifying information 15B or the like on the basis of thesupplementary information 24 previously acquired from the specifyinginformation acquisition unit 30B.

<Imaging Terminal of Third Embodiment>

The imaging terminal 12B of the third embodiment includes a positioninformation acquisition unit 20, an imaging unit 22, a storage unit 40,a specifying information output unit 41B, an image acquisition areainformation acquisition unit 42B, a display control unit 43B, a displayunit 44, and an image output unit 45.

The storage unit 40 stores the above-described program 46 for causingthe imaging terminal 12B to function as a part of the imaging supportsystem 10B, the above-described supplementary information 24, the mapinformation 56, and the photograph information 57. The map information56 is basically the same as the map information 36 described above, andindicates positions of a plurality of buildings (including thesurrounding buildings 9). The photograph information 57 is photographimage data obtained by imaging the plurality of buildings and respectiveparts thereof in advance. As the photograph information 57, for example,image data from which appearances of the plurality of buildings and therespective parts thereof can be recognized, such as image data obtainedby drawing the plurality of buildings and the respective parts thereofusing computer graphics, may be used.

The specifying information output unit 41B outputs the specifyinginformation 15B including the position information acquired by theposition information acquisition unit 20, and the supplementaryinformation 24 acquired from the storage unit 40 to the imaging supportdevice 14B under the control of the program 46. Accordingly, since thespecifying information acquisition unit 30B of the imaging supportdevice 14B acquires the specifying information 15B and the supplementaryinformation 24, the image acquisition area information 17B describedabove is output from the image acquisition area information output unit33B of the imaging support device 14B to the imaging terminal 12B.

The image acquisition area information acquisition unit 42B is basicallythe same as the image acquisition area information acquisition unit 42of the first embodiment, and acquires the image acquisition areainformation 17B output from the image acquisition area informationoutput unit 33B, and outputs the image acquisition area information 17Bto the display control unit 43B under the control of the program 46.

In a case where the imaging terminal 12B perform imaging, the displaycontrol unit 43B causes the display unit 44 to display a live view imageon the basis of the captured image data 13 sequentially input from theimaging unit 22, as in the first embodiment.

On the other hand, in a case where the image acquisition areainformation 17B is input from the image acquisition area informationacquisition unit 42B, the display control unit 43B generates the imageacquisition area display map data 58 (see FIG. 15) on the basis of theimage acquisition area information 17B and the map information 56acquired from the storage unit 40 under the control of the program 46.This image acquisition area display map data 58 corresponds to an imageacquisition area display map of the present invention, and indicates theposition of the surrounding building 9 including the image acquisitionarea 17 on the map and the position of the imaging terminal 12. Theposition of the imaging terminal 12 can be acquired from the positioninformation acquisition unit 20.

Further, the display control unit 43B acquires the photographinformation 57 corresponding to the “Building information” describedabove included in the image acquisition area information 17B from thestorage unit 40, and generates the entire surrounding building imagedata 59 (see FIG. 15) indicating the position of the image acquisitionarea 17 in the entire surrounding building 9 on the basis of thephotograph information 57 under the control of the program 46. Further,the display control unit 43B acquires the photograph information 57corresponding to the “Part information” described above included in theimage acquisition area information 17B from the storage unit 40 andgenerates enlarged image data 60 (see FIG. 15) obtained by enlarging theimage acquisition area 17 in the surrounding building 9 on the basis ofthe photograph information 57 under the control of the program 46.

In the image acquisition area display map data 58, the entiresurrounding building image data 59, and the enlarged image data 60, adisplay aspect of a portion corresponding to the image acquisition area17 is made different from other portions (see FIG. 15). The displaycontrol unit 43B causes the display unit 44 to display the imageacquisition area display map data 58, the entire surrounding buildingimage data 59, and the enlarged image data 60.

FIG. 15 is an illustrative diagram illustrating an example of the imageacquisition area display map data 58, the entire surrounding buildingimage data 59, and the enlarged image data 60 displayed on the displayunit 44. As illustrated in FIG. 15, a positional relationship betweenthe surrounding building 9 including the image acquisition area 17 andthe imaging terminal 12B is indicated by the image acquisition areadisplay map data 58. The position of the image acquisition area 17 inthe entire surrounding building 9 is indicated by the entire surroundingbuilding image data 59. An appearance of the image acquisition area 17of the imaging target is indicated by the enlarged image data 60.Accordingly, the image acquisition area 17 can be discriminablydisplayed on the display unit 44. As a result, it is possible to requestthe user of the imaging terminal 12B to image the image acquisition area17.

Since a configuration for performing a subsequent process is basicallythe same as that in the first embodiment described above, specificdescription thereof will be omitted.

[Operation of Imaging Support System of Third Embodiment]

Next, an operation of the imaging support system 10B (the imagingsupport device 14B) of the third embodiment will be described withreference to FIG. 16. FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of theimaging support process (the imaging support method of the presentinvention) for the imaging terminal 12B in the imaging support system10B (the imaging support device 14B) of the third embodiment.

<Output of Specifying Information from Imaging Terminal of ThirdEmbodiment>

In a case where the program 46 is executed in the imaging terminal 12B(step S20), the specifying information output unit 41B outputs thespecifying information 15B including the position information acquiredfrom the position information acquisition unit 20 and the supplementaryinformation 24 acquired from the storage unit 40 to the imaging supportdevice 14B under the control of the program 46 (step S22 B).

<Necessity Evaluation in Imaging Support Device of Third Embodiment>

The specifying information acquisition unit 30B of the imaging supportdevice 14B acquires the specifying information 15B and the supplementaryinformation 24 output from the imaging terminal 12B (step S23B). Thespecifying information acquisition unit 30 B outputs the acquiredspecifying information 15 B to the building specifying unit 31B, andoutputs the acquired supplementary information 24 to the imageacquisition area information output unit 33B.

The building specifying unit 31B which has received an input of thespecifying information 15B from the specifying information acquisitionunit 30B specifies the surrounding building 9 of the imaging terminal 12on the basis of the specifying information 15B (position information)and the map information 36 acquired from the database 16, and outputs aspecifying result to the necessity evaluation unit 32B (step S24B).

The necessity evaluation unit 32B which has received an input of thespecifying result from the building specifying unit 31B accesses thedatabase 16 and refers to the maintenance and inspection information 38corresponding to all parts of the surrounding building 9. Then, thenecessity evaluation unit 32B performs the necessity evaluationdescribed with reference to FIG. 5 described above, for each piece ofmaintenance and inspection information 38 corresponding to each part ofthe surrounding building 9 (step S25B). The necessity evaluation unit32B outputs an evaluation result of necessity evaluation to the imageacquisition area information output unit 33B.

In a case where there is the image acquisition area 17 in whichacquisition of new captured image data 13 is necessary in the part ofthe surrounding building 9, the image acquisition area informationoutput unit 33B which has received the evaluation result of thenecessity evaluation from the necessity evaluation unit 32B generatesimage acquisition area information 17B indicating this image acquisitionarea 17 (YES in step S26B). The image acquisition area informationoutput unit 33B outputs the image acquisition area information 17B tothe imaging terminal 12B that is an output source of the specifyinginformation 15 or the like on the basis of the previously acquiredsupplementary information 24 (step S27B).

<Display of Image Acquisition Area in Imaging Terminal of ThirdEmbodiment>

In a case where the image acquisition area information 17B is outputfrom the imaging support device 14B, the image acquisition areainformation acquisition unit 42B of the imaging terminal 12B acquiresthe image acquisition area information 17B and outputs the imageacquisition area information 17B to the display control unit 43B (stepYES in S28B).

The display control unit 43B which has received an input of the imageacquisition area information 17B from the image acquisition areainformation acquisition unit 42B generates the image acquisition areadisplay map data 58 on the basis of the image acquisition areainformation 17B and the map information 56 acquired from the storageunit 40. Further, the display control unit 43B acquires the photographinformation 57 corresponding to the “Building information” and the “Partinformation” included in the image acquisition area information 17B fromthe storage unit 40, and generates the entire surrounding building imagedata 59 and the enlarged image data 60 on the basis of the photographinformation 57.

Then, as illustrated in FIG. 15 described above, the display controlunit 43B causes the display unit 44 to display the image acquisitionarea display map data 58, the entire surrounding building image data 59,and the enlarged image data 60 (step S29B). Accordingly, a positionalrelationship between the surrounding building 9 including the imageacquisition area 17 and the imaging terminal 12B, the position of theimage acquisition area 17 in the surrounding building 9, and theappearance of the image acquisition area 17 are displayed on the displayunit 44. As a result, since the image acquisition area 17 isdiscriminably displayed on the display unit 44, it is possible torequest the user of the imaging terminal 12B to image the imageacquisition area 17.

Since a process after step S30 is basically the same as in the firstembodiment illustrated in FIG. 8 described above, s specific descriptionthereof will be omitted herein.

[Effects of Third Embodiment]

As described above, since the image acquisition area display map data 58indicating the position on the map of the image acquisition area 17 inwhich the acquisition of new captured image data 13 is evaluated to benecessary, or the like, is displayed on the display unit 44 of theimaging terminal 12B in the imaging support system 10B of the thirdembodiment, it is possible to request the user of the imaging terminal12B to image the image acquisition area 17. As a result, it is possibleto efficiently acquire the captured image data 13 of the building inwhich imaging is necessary from the imaging terminal 12B of the ordinaryperson and register the captured image data 13 in the database 16.

<Modification Example of Third Embodiment>

Although the image acquisition area display map data 58, the entiresurrounding building image data 59, and the enlarged image data 60 aregenerated by the display control unit 43B of the imaging terminal 12B inthe third embodiment, such data maybe generated in the image acquisitionarea information output unit 33B of the imaging support device 14B andoutput to the imaging terminal 12B as the image acquisition areainformation 17B described above.

[Imaging Support System of Fourth Embodiment]

Next, an imaging support system 10C of the fourth embodiment of thepresent invention will be described with reference to FIG. 17. FIG. 17is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the imaging supportsystem 10C of the fourth embodiment. In each of the above embodiments,the captured image data 13 of the image acquisition area 17 acquiredfrom the imaging terminal 12 or 12B of the ordinary person is registeredin the “Non-expert acquisition history” of the maintenance andinspection information 38 in the database 16 by the database managementunit 34. In this case, an inappropriate captured image data 13, forexample, in which image quality (resolution, exposure, distortion, blur,bokeh, or the like) is not appropriate or a size or the like of theimage acquisition area 17 is not appropriate is likely to be included inthe captured image data 13 of the image acquisition area 17 captured bythe ordinary person.

Therefore, in the imaging support system 10C of the fourth embodiment,in a case where the captured image data 13 of the image acquisition area17 captured by the expert is registered in the maintenance andinspection information 38 in the database 16, information (the capturedimage data 13 or the like) registered in the “Non-expert acquisitionhistory” in the maintenance and inspection information 38 is erased.

The imaging support system 10C of the fourth embodiment includes animaging terminal 12 of an ordinary person and an expert corresponding toa predetermined specific user of the present invention, and an imagingsupport device 14C. The imaging support system 10C has basically thesame configuration as the imaging support system of each of the aboveembodiments except that the imaging support device 14C includes adatabase management unit 34C. Therefore, the same functions orconfigurations as those of the above embodiments are denoted with thesame reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In addition to acquiring the captured image data 13 of the imageacquisition area 17 from the imaging terminal 12 of the ordinary personas in each of the above embodiments, the database management unit 34Cacquires expert inspection information 63 indicating the inspectionresult from the imaging terminal 12 of the expert who has performedinspection of each part of the surrounding building 9, and registers theexpert inspection information 63 in the maintenance and inspectioninformation 38 in the database 16.

The expert inspection information 63 includes “identificationinformation” such as an ID from which an expert can be identified,“Building information” and “Part information” (see FIG. 4) from whichthe building and the part thereof on which the inspection has beenperformed can be identified, “Inspection date and time” which is dateand time when the inspection has been performed, “Captured image data13” of the part of the building on which the inspection has beenperformed, and a “Degree of damage” obtained by evaluating a degree ofdamage occurring at the part of the building on which the inspection hasbeen performed. In addition to the “identification information” and the“Captured image data 13”, a type of information included in the expertinspection information 63 is not particularly limited.

FIG. 18 is an illustrative diagram illustrating a registration processof the expert inspection information 63 in the database management unit34 C of the fourth embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 18, in a casewhere the “identification information” included in the expert inspectioninformation 63 is registered in a list (not illustrated) of expertidentification information created in advance, the database managementunit 34C registers the expert inspection information 63 in thecorresponding maintenance and inspection information 38 in the database16.

Specifically, the database management unit 34C accesses the database 16and registers the “Inspection date and time”, the “Captured image data13”, and the “Degree of damage” of the expert inspection information 63in the “Expert inspection history” of the maintenance and inspectioninformation 38 corresponding to the “Building information” and the “Partinformation” of the expert inspection information 63.

Further, in a case where the database management unit 34C performsregistration of the expert inspection information 63, the databasemanagement unit 34C erases information such as the captured image data13 registered in the “Non-expert acquisition history” in a case wherethe captured image data 13 or the like is registered in the “Non-expertacquisition history” of the maintenance and inspection information 38that is a registration target.

[Effects of Fourth Embodiment]

As described above, in the imaging support system 10C of the fourthembodiment, in a case where the captured image data 13 of the imageacquisition area 17 imaged by the expert is registered in themaintenance and inspection information 38 in the database 16, thecaptured image data 13 of the “Non-expert acquisition history”registered in the corresponding maintenance and inspection information38, or the like is erased. Thus, it is possible to reduce the amount ofdata registered in the database 16.

[Others]

Although the database 16 is provided separately from the imaging supportdevice 14 or the like in each of the above embodiments, the database 16may be embedded into the imaging support device 14 or the like.

Although the building is taken as an example of an inspection target ofthe present invention in each of the above-described embodiments, anobject that can be a target of various inspection (includingmanagement), such as a natural object such as a tree, an artifact otherthan a building, or a site at which a disaster such as landslide or anaccident has occurred, may also be included in the inspection target ofthe present invention.

A program for causing a computer to function as the imaging supportdevice described in each of the above embodiments can be recorded on acompact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), a magnetic disk, or anothercomputer readable medium (a tangible non-transitory information storagemedium), and the program can be provided through the information storagemedium. Further, it is also possible to provide a program as a downloadservice using a communication network such as the Internet, instead ofan aspect in which the program is stored in and provided through theinformation storage medium.

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCES

-   -   9: surrounding building    -   10, 10B, 10C: imaging support system    -   12, 12B: imaging terminal    -   13: captured image data    -   14, 14A to 14C: imaging support device    -   15, 15A1, 15B: specifying information    -   16: database    -   17: image acquisition area    -   17A, 17B: image acquisition area information    -   20: position information acquisition unit    -   21: imaging direction acquisition unit    -   22: imaging unit    -   30, 30A1, 30B: specifying information acquisition unit    -   31, 31A, 31A1, 31B: building specifying unit    -   32, 32A, 32B: necessity evaluation unit    -   33, 33B: image acquisition area information output unit    -   34, 34C: database management unit    -   36: map information    -   38: maintenance and inspection information    -   41, 41B: specifying information output unit    -   42, 42B: image acquisition area information acquisition unit    -   43, 43B: display control unit    -   44: display unit    -   45: image output unit    -   51: design information specifying unit    -   53: design information    -   58: image acquisition area display map data

What is claimed is:
 1. An imaging support system comprising an imagingterminal having an imaging unit, and an imaging support device thatsupports imaging of an inspection target in the imaging terminal,wherein the imaging support device comprises a first central processingunit that acquires, from the imaging terminal, specifying informationfor specifying a surrounding inspection target which is an inspectiontarget present in a predetermined range with respect to the imagingterminal, specifies the surrounding inspection target among theplurality of inspection targets on the basis of the specifyinginformation acquired, evaluates whether or not there is an imageacquisition area in which acquisition of a new captured image isnecessary for the surrounding inspection target on the basis of a resultof accessing a database that stores maintenance and inspectioninformation including at least a captured image for each of theplurality of inspection targets and referring to the maintenance andinspection information of the surrounding inspection target specified,and outputs image acquisition area information indicating the imageacquisition area evaluated that the acquisition of a new captured imageis necessary to the imaging terminal, wherein the imaging terminalfurther comprises a position information acquisition sensor, a secondcentral processing unit and a display unit, wherein the positioninformation acquisition sensor acquires a position information of animaging terminal, the second central processing unit outputs thespecifying information which include the position information of theimaging terminal acquired by the position information acquisition sensorto the first central processing unit, the display unit displays theimage acquisition area on the basis of the image acquisition areainformation output from the first central processing unit, the firstcentral processing unit acquires the position information of theinspection target indicating positions of the plurality of inspectiontargets, and specifies the surrounding inspection target on the basis ofthe inspection target information and the position information of theimaging terminal included in the specifying information acquired, thesecond central processing unit outputs the captured image of the imageacquisition area to the imaging support device in a case where theimaging unit images the image acquisition area, the first centralprocessing unit registers the captured image output from the secondcentral processing unit in the database as the maintenance andinspection information of the surrounding inspection targetcorresponding to the image acquisition area, and in a case where thecaptured image output from the second central processing unit of theimaging terminal of a predetermined specific user is registered in thedatabase, the first central processing unit erases the captured imagepreviously registered in the database as the maintenance and inspectioninformation of the surrounding inspection target, the captured imagebeing acquired from the imaging terminal of a user different from thespecific user.
 2. The imaging support system according to claim 1,wherein the imaging terminal comprises an imaging direction acquisitionsensor that acquires an imaging direction of the imaging terminal, thespecifying information further includes the imaging direction acquiredby the imaging direction acquisition sensor, the first centralprocessing unit specifies the surrounding inspection target included inan imaging range of the imaging unit on the basis of the positioninformation and the imaging direction included in the specifyinginformation acquired, evaluates whether or not there is the imageacquisition area in the imaging range of the imaging unit on the basisof a specified result of the surrounding inspection target included inthe imaging range of the imaging unit, and outputs the image acquisitionarea information indicating the image acquisition area in the imagingrange to the imaging terminal, and the display unit discriminablydisplays the image acquisition area on the basis of the imageacquisition area information in a case where a live view image isdisplayed on the basis of the captured image obtained by imaging in theimaging unit.
 3. The imaging support system according to claim 1,wherein the inspection target is a building, the imaging terminalcomprises an imaging direction acquisition sensor that acquires animaging direction of the imaging terminal, the specifying informationfurther includes the imaging direction acquired by the imaging directionacquisition sensor, the first central processing unit further acquiresdesign information of the plurality of inspection targets in advance andspecifies the design information of the surrounding inspection target onthe basis of the design information and the surrounding inspectiontarget specified, specifies a part of the surrounding inspection targetin the imaging range of the imaging unit on the basis of the positioninformation and the imaging direction included in the specifyinginformation acquired, and the design information specified, andevaluates whether or not there is the image acquisition area in the partspecified on the basis of a result of accessing the database andreferring to the maintenance and inspection information of thesurrounding inspection target.
 4. The imaging support system accordingto claim 1, wherein the inspection target is a building, the specifyinginformation further includes a captured image obtained by imaging in theimaging unit, the first central processing unit further acquires designinformation of the plurality of inspection targets in advance andspecifies the design information of the surrounding inspection target onthe basis of the design information and the surrounding inspectiontarget specified, specifies a part of the surrounding inspection targetin the imaging range of the imaging unit on the basis of the positioninformation and the captured image included in the specifyinginformation acquired, and the design information specified, andevaluates whether or not there is the image acquisition area in the partspecified on the basis of a result of accessing the database andreferring to the maintenance and inspection information of thesurrounding inspection target.
 5. The imaging support system accordingto claim 3, wherein the first central processing unit outputs the imageacquisition area information indicating the image acquisition area inthe imaging range in which it is evaluated that acquisition of a newcaptured image is necessary, to the imaging terminal, and the displayunit discriminably displays the image acquisition area on the basis ofthe image acquisition area information in a case where a live view imageis displayed on the basis of the captured image obtained by imaging inthe imaging unit.
 6. The imaging support system according to claim 4,wherein the first central processing unit outputs the image acquisitionarea information indicating the image acquisition area in the imagingrange in which it is evaluated that acquisition of a new captured imageis necessary, to the imaging terminal, and the display unitdiscriminably displays the image acquisition area on the basis of theimage acquisition area information in a case where a live view image isdisplayed on the basis of the captured image obtained by imaging in theimaging unit.
 7. The imaging support system according to claim 1,wherein the image acquisition area information includes informationcapable of specifying a position of the image acquisition area on a map,and the display unit displays an image acquisition area display mapindicating a position of the image acquisition area on the map on thebasis of the image acquisition area information output from the firstcentral processing unit.
 8. An imaging support device comprising: afirst central processing unit that acquires, from an imaging terminalhaving an imaging unit and a second central processing unit, specifyinginformation which include the position information of the imagingterminal for specifying a surrounding inspection target which is aninspection target present in a predetermined range with respect to theimaging terminal, specifies the surrounding inspection target among theplurality of inspection targets on the basis of the specifyinginformation which include the position information of the imagingterminal acquired and the position information of the inspection targetindicating positions of the plurality of inspection targets, evaluateswhether or not there is an image acquisition area in which acquisitionof a new captured image is necessary for the surrounding inspectiontarget on the basis of a result of accessing a database that storesmaintenance and inspection information including at least a capturedimage for each of the plurality of inspection targets and referring tothe maintenance and inspection information of the surrounding inspectiontarget specified, outputs image acquisition area information indicatingthe image acquisition area evaluated that the acquisition of a newcaptured image is necessary to the imaging terminal, receives thecaptured image of the image acquisition area from the second centralprocessing unit in a case where the imaging unit images the imageacquisition area, registers the captured image output from the secondcentral processing unit in the database as the maintenance andinspection information of the surrounding inspection targetcorresponding to the image acquisition area, and in a case where thecaptured image output from the second central processing unit of apredetermined specific user is registered in the database, erases thecaptured image previously registered in the database as the maintenanceand inspection information of the surrounding inspection target, thecaptured image being acquired from the imaging terminal of a userdifferent from the predetermined specific user.
 9. The imaging terminalconstituting the imaging support system according to claim
 1. 10. Animaging support method that supports imaging of an inspection target inan imaging terminal including an imaging unit by using an imagingsupport device, the imaging support method comprising: a specifyinginformation acquisition step of acquiring, by the imaging supportdevice, specifying information which include the position information ofthe imaging terminal for specifying a surrounding inspection targetwhich is an inspection target present in a predetermined range withrespect to the imaging terminal from the imaging terminal; an inspectiontarget specifying step of acquiring a position information of theinspection target indicating positions of the plurality of inspectiontargets and specifying, by the imaging support device, the surroundinginspection target among the plurality of inspection targets on the basisof the specifying information which include the position information ofthe imaging terminal acquired in the specifying information acquisitionstep and the position information of the inspection target; a necessityevaluation step of evaluating, by the imaging support device, whether ornot there is an image acquisition area in which acquisition of a newcaptured image is necessary for the surrounding inspection target on thebasis of a result of accessing a database that stores maintenance andinspection information including at least a captured image for each ofthe plurality of inspection targets and referring to the maintenance andinspection information of the surrounding inspection target specified inthe inspection target specifying step; a first output step ofoutputting, by the imaging support device, image acquisition areainformation indicating the image acquisition area in which it isevaluated in the necessity evaluation step that the acquisition of a newcaptured image is necessary, to the imaging terminal; a display step ofdisplaying, by the imaging terminal, the image acquisition area on thedisplay unit on the basis of the image acquisition area informationacquired from the imaging support device in the image acquisition areainformation output step; a second output step of outputting, by theimaging terminal, the captured image of the image acquisition area tothe imaging support device in a case where the imaging unit images theimage acquisition area; a register step of registering, by the imagingsupport device, the captured image output by the second output step inthe database as the maintenance and inspection information of thesurrounding inspection target corresponding to the image acquisitionarea; and in a case where the captured image output from the imagingterminal of a predetermined specific user is registered in the database,an erasing step of erasing, by the imaging support device, the capturedimage previously registered in the database as the maintenance andinspection information of the surrounding inspection target, thecaptured image being acquired from the imaging terminal of a userdifferent from the predetermined specific user.